Wildcats' Toman quiets critics with strong playoff performance

Sunday

LAKE CHARLES, La. — He said this game wasn't "about redeeming myself."

LAKE CHARLES, La. — He said this game wasn't "about redeeming myself."

But that's exactly what R.J. Toman did Saturday in the Louisiana Bayou.

The quietly confident kid from Mission Viejo, Calif., answered his doubters last year when he took over for quarterback Ricky Santos and completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,110 yards and 28 touchdowns.

But Toman stumbled badly in the playoffs, throwing seven picks in two games, including four against Northern Iowa in the University of New Hampshire's 36-34 quarterfinal loss.

Despite those poor playoffs, Toman was selected as the 2009 preseason Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Year and one of 20 Walter Payton Award candidates. But he suffered serious toe and ankle injuries early in the season, worked behind a young and inconsistent offensive line, never found a go-to wide receiver and couldn't live up to the hype — until Saturday's 49-13 playoff victory over No. 8 McNeese State (9-2).

"I thought R.J. did a tremendous job three or four times when nothing was there and threw the ball away, he put the ball on some people and made some great throws," UNH coach Sean McDonnell said.

Toman made all the right throws, runs and decisions. He finished 17-for-25 for 240 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions and ran it eight times for 14 yards and a score. It was probably his best performance of the year, even though he put up a season-high 292 yards in UNH's 28-24 victory over Villanova, the same team New Hampshire will see next week in its fifth quarterfinal appearance in six years.

The Wildcats won the toss and elected to receive Saturday, even though most of the year they deferred and put their revamped and highly praised defense on the field first. Not this time. This time they put the ball in Toman's hands and he delivered a brilliant opening salvo.

Toman went 6-for-7 for 75 yards and a touchdown on that first drive. He took the underneath throws at first and then lofted a perfect lead pass to Joey Orlando on third-and-6 for a 33-yard gain to the McNeese 14.

Three plays later he stood tall under pressure, took a big hit as he threw, but still found security blanket Scott Sicko (five catches, 51 yards) for a 9-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead that UNH would never relinquish.

"Being able to put one in the end zone early, that's always huge," Toman said. "It kind of swings momentum a little bit back on our side because you're playing against the crowd and everything else, so it was huge for us to be able to go down and do that."

McNeese answered with a field goal, but Toman answered louder, this time as much with his finally healthy feet as his right arm. He was 3-for-4 for 27 yards passing and ran four times for 15 yards, including a 1-yard sneak for a 14-3 lead with 3:43 left in the first.

The Southland Conference champion Cowboys wouldn't be knocked out early on their home turf. They rallied to steal the 'Cats' momentum and make it 14-13 early in the second. Toman and the offense suffered through two three-and-outs, but during those unproductive series Toman showed the poise he lacked in last year's playoffs, throwing balls away and taking sacks rather than risking interceptions.

"It is night and day in the sense that last year was huge for me, as tough as it was and as bad as it was," Toman said. "To really compare last year to this year I'd have to say it has to do with the experience, that's the bottom line, learning from your mistakes, watching film, figuring out what you did wrong and what you can do better next time."

The UNH defense rose up to swipe back the momentum and then Toman took advantage. On first-and-10 from his own 11, Toman made a great play fake to Chad Kackert and then made a better pass — again a perfectly lofted lead ball — to Kevon Mason for a 62 yards. Two plays later, Toman picked up a first down with another 1-yard sneak and then Kackert made it 21-13 with 4:22 left in the half.

The pass to Mason was a killer, the first of three daggers that Toman used to end McNeese's season. The second dagger came early in the third after the Wildcats had first-and-goal on the 1, but a penalty and two negative rush plays pushed them back to the 9. The seemingly inevitable field goal would have been a moral victory for the Cowboys, but Toman hung in under pressure and dropped a pass through a miniscule window and Sicko (who else?) dragged one toe inside the back of the end zone for a two-score, 28-13 lead.

The final dagger was easy compared to the first two. The UNH running game came to life in the second half, forcing McNeese to respect Toman's play fake and opening the door for a wide-open 38-yard touchdown pass to Travis Negron that made it 42-13 with 13:51 left in the game. After that, it was second-string time.

Now Toman and the 'Cats will get another shot at Villanova, who will be looking to avenge that loss from earlier in the season, the only blemish on its record thus far. Needless to say, the quarterback from California will have to keep on learning and maintain that experience to earn another win against the No. 2 team in the country.

"We knew how tough they are and they are going to be looking forward to revenge and payback," Toman said. "After we celebrate this for 24 hours, we're going to be dialing it up and watching film on them again and figuring out how to beat those guys."

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